Processing Rail Vouchers

[SETCommuter]

Morning all,

I've just been to renew my annual Gold Card (albeit with a different, much cheaper route which is still valid for my usual route ) and I was absolutely amazed at the amount of work required on the part of the booking office clerk to process the vouchers.

I had £140 of vouchers and he had to press a button and then scan one, then press a button and scan one etc etc. Once that was done he then had to overprint each voucher individually (presumably so they cant be used again) - it just seemed to be a ridiculous amount of work - especially as the queue was building up behind me & it was the only window open !

How I long for the days when I received a cheque from Southeastern....

 

[34D]

Confused as to why you renewed today instead of yesterday at 2013 prices....

I agree about the process (both at the counter, and the sending of vouchers by post in the first place).

 

[SETCommuter]

I didn't, I renewed yesterday

Either way I've saved over £1200 by studying the routeing guide very closely and spending quite a bit of time working out a different route.

Plus spending £140 of vouchers means my "actual" spend was over £1400 less than last year. Certainly worth waiting for 10 minutes at a ticket booth while the chap processed the vouchers !!

 

[bb21]

An RTV in accounting terms costs the TOC virtually nothing "on the book". Sending out a refund in cash/cheque costs money instantly. In addition an RTV keeps the money "within the system" and may increase revenue if it stimulates further custom if the passenger would not have made another journey without the RTV.

But yes the processing of RTVs do tend to take quite a while, especially if the barcode doesn't scan.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....I had £140 of vouchers and he had to press a button and then scan one, then press a button and scan one etc etc. Once that was done he then had to overprint each voucher individually (presumably so they cant be used again) - it just seemed to be a ridiculous amount of work - especially as the queue was building up behind me & it was the only window open !....

That clerk is lucky, I have to type all the data in to the machine and then stamp the vouchers and write ticket details on them and later enter each one individually on to my shift sheet for the day, some clerks even photocopy them so there is a copy at the station in case there is a problem later on.

 

[andrewkeith5]

Didn't take anywhere as long as Southern are taking to process my RTVs then...

...six times I've tried to use them now - four times Southern couldn't be bothered to keep the ticket office open to the published times, and twice when I tried to pay on the train the Train Manager hasn't known/hasn't been able to process them on his Avantix. Getting quite frustrating, really...

Actually that reminds me I need to chase up the three complaints they still haven't replied to.

I definitely agree that there seems to be an awful lot of processing involved. I sometimes wonder if it would be better if you could apply for an RTV 'gift card' sort of thing which could just be topped up when delay repay claims are made and swiped or used online to redeem - at least you could also then redeem only part of the value.

 

[Chrisgr31]

If you travel on Southern you can get the Delay Repay vouchers creditted to your online account. You can then use them to pay for or towards an online ticket purchase. I am not sure what happens if your ticket price is less than the voucher value, but I think you retain the difference in your online account.

My issue with this is that most (all) of my rail travel is either commuting or for work and in all cases my company buy the tickets. Therefore an online voucher is useless. So I save all my vouchers and send them in tot he company with my season ticket application and they use them towards the cost of the ticket. This year I saved nearly £300 in vouchers!

 

[andrewkeith5]

If you travel on Southern you can get the Delay Repay vouchers creditted to your online account. You can then use them to pay for or towards an online ticket purchase. I am not sure what happens if your ticket price is less than the voucher value, but I think you retain the difference in your online account.

My issue with this is that most (all) of my rail travel is either commuting or for work and in all cases my company buy the tickets. Therefore an online voucher is useless. So I save all my vouchers and send them in tot he company with my season ticket application and they use them towards the cost of the ticket. This year I saved nearly £300 in vouchers!

Sadly, whilst I mostly spend them with Southern, most of my RTVs come from Virgin and East Coast. I despise the hopeless virgin website and only use East Coast online if I'm buying non-Southern Advance tickets - for everything else not using RTVs I always buy from Southern for their refund policy.